ABS Anywhere
ABS Anywhere is the brand name used for Kabushiki Gaisha ABS' on-demand television services. History ABS launched vod.abs.co.jp in April 2011 as a pay-per-view TV streaming site (similar to that of other on-demand services operated by Japanese TV networks). However, one month later, it was announced that ABS VOD would become a free-to-view service, in the style used by many popular catch-up services. When abs.co.jp became abs.jp in 2013, the service was renamed ABS Anywhere. ABS Anywhere's web address was designated as anywhere.abs.jp. ondemand.abs.jp, and the previous vod.abs.co.jp addresses now redirect to this address. Selling points Kabushiki Gaisha ABS touts a number of "pillars" supporting ABS Anywhere: these "pillars" represent unique points of the service. Global availability Upon first launch in 2011, access to ABS VOD was restricted to viewers in Japan only. Attempting to view from outside the country would result in redirection to error messages. When ABS VOD was shut down to make way for ABS Anywhere, Kabushiki Gaisha ABS announced that it had negotiated deals to distribute all the network's shows to worldwide audiences. ABS Anywhere is, as a result, available without any theoretical geographical restrictions. Very few countries are denied access to ABS Anywhere as of November 2015, and are as follows: * North Korea (not blocked per se, but virtually all North Korean citizens are unable to use the internet) * The United States (ABS America hosts its own more-or-less identical version of ABS Anywhere specifically tailored for US viewers) No advertising ABS Television does not interrupt any of its programmes for commercial advertising, save for post-programme advertising. This is also reflected by ABS Anywhere's lack of advertising. ABS has repeatedly rejected commercial requests to run pre-roll or break ads on ABS Anywhere programmes, with Kenji Yukimura stating that "it's never going to happen; we're not businesspeople, we're TV people". "Anywhere, anytime, any device" Kabushiki Gaisha ABS lists the following devices as having dedicated apps for accessing the ABS Anywhere service: * Sony PlayStation 4 and PS Vita * Xbox One * Android phones and tablets * Apple iPhone, iPod touch and iPad * Windows Phones * Nintendo Wii U and 3DS ABS' interaction with viewers ABS touts its Anywhere service as an interactive experience that allows people to comment on TV episodes in the same way as YouTube's comments section works. ABS runs its own scans of comments on a daily basis, and ABS employees themselves reply to the most popular, interesting and intriguing comments about that episode, whilst deleting offensive, spam and advertising comments. Live events The following events currently have their own dedicated streams with additional interactive channels on ABS Anywhere: * The Music Station Super Live concerts * The 24 Hours of Le Mans (numerous onboard streams available in addition to the main TV coverage) * The Verizon IndyCar Series (multiple audio channels for English, Japanese and Korean commentary, and selectable onboard cameras for all cars in the race) Programme availability Unlike many other on-demand TV services that permanently remove shows from their lineups after anytime from 7 days to a month, ABS Anywhere keeps its episodes and shows available for an indefinite period of time. This archival concept allows ABS Anywhere users to access episodes of its shows from as far back as 2011. Doraemon is the only exception to this, this show having ABS Anywhere-streamable episodes from as far back as 2005. ABS only removes programmes from the ABS Anywhere library when the show leaves ABS' TV schedule. Therefore, ABS Anywhere's content reflects current shows only, but contains many archived editions of said shows. When ABS briefly axed Anpanman in 2015, the entire backlog of episodes was deleted from the service. The show returned to the ABS Anywhere library in October.Category:Aso Broadcasting System Category:On-demand television services